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Meet the Representative

Find out more about the UNICEF Representative in Zambia, Dr. Saja Farooq Abdullah

UNICEF Zambia
UNICEF Zambia's Country Representative, Dr. Saja Farooq Abdullah.
UNICEF Zambia/2025/Adam
UNICEF Zambia's Country Representative, Dr. Saja Farooq Abdullah presents her Letter of Credence to the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mulambo Haimbe, (MP).
UNICEF Zambia's Country Representative, Dr. Saja Farooq Abdullah presents her Letter of Credence to the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mulambo Haimbe, (MP).
Dr. Saja with some of the UNICEF team during her first field mission to Luapula Province.
Dr. Saja with some of the UNICEF team during her first field mission to Luapula Province.

Dr. Saja Farooq Abdullah is an Iraqi national who joins UNICEF Zambia from Azerbaijan, where she served as Country Representative. Her 28-year career in international public health has taken her across MENA, ECAR, and ROSA regions -from medical coordination with Médecins du Monde and Relief International in Yemen to leadership roles with UNICEF in Yemen, Bangladesh, Turkey, Sudan, and Jordan's Regional Office. She holds a Master of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia.

Before joining UNICEF in 2011, she worked with Iraq's Ministry of Health in Basra and Baghdad.

Dr. Saja has led multi-sector programmes across countries at every income level, from emergency response in conflict zones to long-term development programming.

She is a mother of three boys and is bilingual in Arabic and English.

 

Previous UNICEF Representatives in Zambia:

Dr. Penelope Campbell, 2022-2025

Ms. Noala Skinner, 2017-2022

Dr. Hamid El Bashir Ibrahim, 2014-2017

Dr. Iyorlumun J. Uhaa, 2010-2014

Ms. Lotta Sylwander, 2006-2010

Mr. Juan Aguillar (ad interim), 2005-2006

Dr. Stella Goings, 2001-2005

Dr. Peter McDermott, 1998-2000